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PETITION 

OF 

THOMAS GEORGE ^LINTON, 

ASSISTANT EXAMINER IN THE PATENT OFFICE, 

PREFERRING CHARGES AGAINST E. BURKE, COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS. 



Filed, and referred to the. CommiUee on Patents of the House of Representatives, 



July, 1848. T^. 



To the Senate and House of Representatives 

of the United Slates in Congress assembled : 

Thepelidon of Thomas George Clinlon, an Assistant Examiner in the 
Patent Office of (lie United States, prayetli : Tliat inasmuch as cettum 
char<^es preferred by him against E. Burke, Commissioner of Patents, to 
tiie Honorable Secretary of State, and herewith- presented in/^opy " 
paper endorsed No. 1, have not, during their pendency, had the ettect 
!o stay the execution of the highest functions enjoyed by the Commissionei 
of Patents, that your honorable body examine into the specifications con- 
tained in the charges alluded to and endorsed No. 1, and also that you 
ecetve papers endorsed severally No. 2, No, 3, and No. 4, as contain- 
in.r matter germam thereto; and further, that you take steps to ascer am 
whether further legislation is not necessary with regard to the P^ ^nt fund 
and the specific appropriations made therefrom for the agricultural stati Ucs 
and other purposes, so that money cannot be drawn torn the patent fund 
and expended, without due precautions and practicable guards against il- 
legality and fraud in Patent Offi^- e^-pen^ditu,.3^^ ^^^^^^^^ 

JuLT 1st, 1S48. -^sst. Examiner of the Patent Offlce. 



No. 1. 



To the Seeretanj of ^ate of the United States : 

The petition of Thomas G. Clinton, an Assistant Examiner '« the Fa- 
tent Office, prayeth : That the charges herein made by ^'^^ ^Z'^'f^^f^^ 
Burke, Cornmissioner of Patents, may be heard, examined, and put m the 
leo-al course for trial, conviction, and punishment : 

°lst. Approving and paying a bill or bills, not allowing it or them to be 
exam ned in the usual way ; this bill, or these bills being knowmgly, wdfuUy 
and f audulently designed and constructed, so as to pass the accounting of- 
ficers of the Treasury ; and which bill or bills is, or are presented, and pur 
potts or purport to be for services rendered, (say recoidmg, making office 



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copies, &C.5 &c.,) such services, however, never luiving been rendered. 
(See E. G. Smitli's bill, for April and May, 1 84S, and odiers in (lie 'J^reasiny 
Department. See Report 98,675, in Edmund Burke's account, ending 
March 31st, 1848.) 

2d. Outraging and violating the trust reposed in him as the guardian 
over the rights of patentees, by selecting their most vahiable inventions and 
transmitting them to Europe by A. Yattemare ; by which aci, these paten- 
tees are deprived of any emoluments they might derive from the possession 
of patents for the same, when taken out in Europe; the gift of them to, 
and the publication of them by A. Yattemare, rendering any application for 
patents for the same by the patentees or their assigns, obnoxious to Euro- 
pean patent laws ; thus, and thereby wresting from these patentees their pri- 
vate property. 

3d. Paying the expenses of preparing the copies of these patents without! 
any warrant of law. 

4th. Procuring and expensively binding hundreds of copies of Patenti 
Oflice reports for this same Yattemare, without any warrant of law. 

5th. Paying for some duplicate models, and refusing to pay for other du- 
plicate models without warrant of law ; he having neglected to cause the 
Board of Commissioners, required by law of 1837, to be appointed for tha 
purpose — thus usurping powers not granted by law. 

6lh. Grantiug, illegally and wilfully, patents which ought not to b 
granted, and refusing others which ought to be granted. For the first, se 
patent of Wm. Trappe, .Jr., 1845 ; A. W. Whitney, 1847; L. B-fSwan 
1847 ; and others. For the latter, see Sargent's application for letters pa 
tents for improvements in carding wool ; U. A. Boydeii's cases ; Edwii 
Jenney's case, and others. 

7th. Giving improper information to Amos Kendall about pending ap 
plications and caveats; thus violating the confidential character of the Pa 
tent Office ; and furthermore, threatening to dismiss the chief clerk for thi; 
act of his own. 

S\h. Ordering the Examiner, against his matured conviction, to de*fend 
the refusal of letters patent to Jesse Leavins, in case he should appeal. 
(A patent afterwards being granted.) The Commissioner's conduct in this 
case being tantamount to ordering the Examiner to violate his oath. 

9th. Inordinately hurrying and forcing the patent granted to C. J. Wool- 
son for hanging carriage bodies, through the office, so that to this day there 
is no model of the invention as claimed in that patent, ever furnished the 
office by Mr. Woolson. See, also, as a sample of driving a patent through 
the office, Caldwell's patent for planing machine. 

10th. Refusing "office copies'^ of certain patents to U. A. Boyden ; the 
money for the same being legally tendered to him ; and, also, refusing to 
act on Boyden's applications. 

11th. Purchasing books (some of a kind not contemplated by, nor ger- 
main to the intent of the law of 1836,) for the Patent Office library, with- 
out buying the same under the direction of the committee of Congress on 
the library of Congress; thus usurping powers not warranted bylaw. 

12. Asserting the existence of rules Avhich he never promulgated ; say 
the rule reported to exist and enforced in E. Jenney's case. — (See letter 
to the President on the same.) 



JL 13(h. Violating the spirit and tradition of the law of 1839, (in whicli 

\ Assistant Examiners were anthorized for the express purpose of creating- 
^ a school, in which men fir. for the Ex^iminer's chair might be initiated into 
^ the duties, and oUicial and confidential archives of the office) by nomina- 
^ ting men not so brought up, to the desk of Examiner ; thus destroying the 
^ contemplated system under the law, by which the office would] always be 
in possession of men conjpeient to the duties of an Examiner ; and doi^og 
this to satisfy vimliciive feelings against the present examining corps. / i 

14ih. Holding some clerks (under an alledged rule) to strict limits in 
salary, and correct performance of clerical duties, while at the same time, 
he allows sin ilarclerks to draw far more than the limits above alluded to, 
(the linu't being §100 per month,) and directly countenances incorrect, 
patched, and interlined copying to be performed by other temporary clerks; 
(See records of specifications and assignments, &c., &;c. See monihly ac- 
counts of temporary clerks.) 

15th. Refusing to pay temporary clerks for services rendered duiing tlie 
month of March last, when the Commissioner ordered extra hours ; and 
compelled the temporary clerks to work during extra hours, except E. G. 
Smith.— (See Johns' bill.) 

16ih. Furnishing the statements contained in an anonymous letter pub- 
lished over the signature of " Fiat Justitia," in the Scientiilc American of 
May 27th, 184G, which statements are, in part, false and slanderous. 

17ih. General neglect of the business of the office, and appropriation of 
the business hours to political aad personal writing when at the office, and 
employing his subordinates during office hours, on his own personal or 
private affiiirs, to the detriment of the public service. 

18th. General absence from the office during office hours ; coming late and 
going early ; also, unwarrantable extravagance in furnishing his own room, 
while subordinates are refused the necessaries for their official duties. 

I9th. Giving orders so loose and contradictory, that the officers never 
know from day to day whether they are not violating some one of them or 
not, as none of them are to tliis day on any permanent record, except such 
as are in tire circular of the office — those orders being exceptionable. 

20th. Exercising, generally, a tyrannical deportment and insolent bear- 
ing towards his subordinates in office ; subjecting them to his oaths, ill- 
temper and caprice, and threatening to turn them out on false and insulting 
charges. 

21st. Prostituting the office to purposes of personal aggrandizement, by 
employing editors and letter writers, giving them all license in hours, (so 
that one can report congressional news for his paper,) and in performance 
of clerical duties, permitting them to take papers out of the office, to pub- 
lish newspaper pulFs personal to himself, and then, in the above way, 
rewarding them. The whole of these twenty-one charges being tantamount 
in their specifications to charges of fraud, bribery, corruption, embezzle- 
ment, felony, and malfeisance in office by the said Commissioner of Pa- 
tents, Edmund Burke. 

Your petitioner further prays, that these charges may be made the ground- 
work of a thorough examination into the affiiirs of the Patent Office as at 
present administered. 

Your petitioner is aware, that he is doing a bold deed ; but he trusts in 
the patriotism of the Secretary ol State and the justness of his cause. IJe 



feel? that he is doing a great service to his country, and risks everything lo 
do so. 

He deems his petition proper and respectful to you, and expects to he 
protected in his place as an Assistant Examiner of Patents, notwithstanding 
this act. His testimony and evidence are beyond cavil, and to keep it so, 
he prays the Secretary of JState of tlie United States to take instant mea- 
sures, that the personel of the Patent Office be not tampered witli, and 
the records ancl papers of the same be not destroyed, altered^ or withdrawn. 

'Very respectfully, 

THOS. G. CLINTON, 

June 15, 184S. *^sst. Examiner of the Patent Office. 

Handed to the Secretary of Slate, June 21st, 183S. 



No. 2. 

W.vsHiXGTON, June \Wi, 1S4S. 
To the Hon. Secretary of State : 

Sir : Permit me to approach yon on the subject of the offices recently 
authorized by Congress in the scientific corps of the Patent Office. I ani 
and have been an Assistant Examiner for nearly three years. "When I 
came into the Patent Office, I expected to be promoted in course ot time 
(under a vacancy or the increase of the corps) to the place of Examiner. 
I did expect this, because the spirit and tradition of the law of 1839, and 
the nature of the duties to be performed at the desk of an Examiner war- 
ranted such a conclusion. I cam.e into the office on trial, as I understood, 
with a viev/ both to my capacity then for an assistant, and my promise for 
an Examiner at some future day. 

By the appointment of a Mr. Renwick to one of the desks of an Exami- 
ner recently authorized, I am passed by, and of course I am to conclude, 
that the system proposed and legalized by the law of '39 is set aside, and that 
the desk of Assistant Examiner is no longer lo be filled by any man whose 
aspirations thence are to be directed, as a matter of course, to the higher desk. 
Hence it must be obvious, that the Assistant Examiner's desk will, for the 
future, be the school in which the Patent Agent will be brought np. Per- 
sons will seek the Assistant Examiner's desk with that view, and will leave 
it as soon as they think they can compete witli intelligent and qualified 
agents. The attraction to do this will be found in the greater pecuniary 
emoluments to be derived from the business appertaining to a patent agen- 
C}^, and in the lowered character of the Assistant's desk. 

P'lVj I feel that you can appreciate the emotions of a man writhing be- 
neath intellectual degradation. I appeal to you, and request you to ascer- 
tain whether I am not n;jost competent and best prepared to take charge of 
an Examiner's desk, and wliether the position tims assigned Assistant Ex- 
aminers is the one contemplated by law, or dictated by sound policy. 
Trusting to your sense of duty to the inventing pubhc, and requesting an 
interview on Wednesday, at your usual hour for visiters, 

I am, very respcctfullv. your subordinate in office, 

THOS. G. CLINTON. 



5 

No. 3. 

United States Patlnt Office, June 2G, ISIS. 
Sm: You are hereby suspended from further duty in this office, and will 
forthwith vacate your seat and leave the office until you are again required 
40 resume your place. 

I am, respectfully, 

EDMUND BURKK. 
Mr. Thos. G. Clinton. 



Nc. 4. 

Wasihngton, /wwc 2G, IS IS. 
To His Excellency^ James K. Polk^ 

President of the United States : 
Sir: Permit me to approach you on the subject of the enclosed Icitcr 
which I this day received. It is a suspension from the performance uf tho 
<luties of my desk as an Assistant Examiner in the Patent Office, and I 
presume, is a step taken by the Commissioner of Patents, in consequence 
of the charges presented by me against him to the Secretary of State. Sir, 
I trust that you will not countenance in Mr. Burke the exercise of a power 
similar to that you refused to tolerate in Gen. Scott, when Gen. Worth 
preferred charges against him. Upon your action, then, I ground my 
hope, that you will order me to be restored to my desk, and no action taken 
against me until the charges I have made, have been thoroughly investi- 
gated ; a copy of these charges I have the honor to enclose. Having re- 
ferred Mr. Bu<:ke'.s letter to the Hon. Secretary of State, it has been re- 
turned to me as containing matter not germain to his control. I now present 
it for consideration to your Excellency, and ask your earliest action there- 
on. The Hon. Secretary of State having sent a copy of my charges 
against the Commissioner of Patents to him for investigation, I do not 
deem it respectful to the Honorable Secretary of State, for me to do more 
than furnish you with a copy of the charges as explanatory of the Com- 
missioner's letter of this date to me. 

I have the hoaor to be. most respectfully, your subordinate, 

THOS. GEORGE CLINTON. 



APPENDIX 



Washington, July 6l/iy 1848; 
7o His Excellency James K. Polk, 

President of the United States : 
Sir: I approach you for the purpose of ascertainiug your action upon 
the appeal I made to you on last Monday week in the matter of (he leUer 
of the Coruniissioner of Patents, suspending nie from duty. You will 
excuse, sir, the anxiety I fee!, when you think for a moment of the posi- 
tion lam thus placed in by that order, especially as I have not done any- 
thing to merit such treatment. 

Since I had the honor of seeing your Excellency, circumstances have 
forced me to throv\r the criminal portion of the charges presented by me to 
the Honorable '*^ecretary of State, (who told me he had no power in I he 
premises,) before the Grand Jury of this District, and all of them before the 
House of Representatives; from all of which irksome responsibihty, I de- 
termined to relieve your Excellency. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your subordinate, 

THOMAS G. CLINTON. 



Washington, July 8, 184S. 
To the Ho?!. James K. Polk, 

President of the United States : 
I desire to countervail any statements to the effect that the Grand Jury 
have "triumphantly acquitted" Mr. Burke of my charges. I have reason 
to believe the case is not dismissed. Not having it in my power improper- 
ly to command information, 1 can only say, that as far as I can jud^e from 
(jueries put to me, it is not the facts, but the laws, tliat do not seem to 
reach the case. That the subtreasiuy or other laws may not do so, is Mr. 
Burke's luck, and not my fault. To end this matter, sir, please let the ac- 
cused and the accuser meet face to face before some competent and public 
Board of Examineis authorized by you to investigate these charges through 
all their bearings. The Honorable Secretary of State, although, (as 1 
learned from Mr. J. Knox Walker,) authorized by you to investigate these 
charges, has to this day left me without loiter or line from him upon the 
subject. My movements elsev/here were the consequence, and were so 
shaped (much to my detriuicnt) as not to interfere with Executive action. 
I now formally ask your Excellency to take cognizance of these charges, 
and bring theui before some tribunal for investigation. 

1 have the honor to be, very respectfully, your subordinate, 

TilOS. G. CLINTON, 



^^'asiiington. ///,/y 11. 1848. 
lo the President of the United States : 

Sir : I have the lionor to inform you, (hat in the matter of the chnnre<=^ 
preferred hy me aga.nst Mr. Burke to the Grand Jury, I was be for ; 

d^:::; ^:^:^::zr'''''^ ^"' ^^""^^ '''''' '^' '^"^^^ ^-^^ 

I have reason to believe, sir, (and I micrhl use a slroncre,- term,) that 
mv iw I 17 "'" Pe'Tecly satisfied the spirit and intent of the sub- a- 

11 lo i . r '''^^"^' ''"' '^'-''^ ''' '^'^ ^'''^ '^ ^'"'J^^^- too specific or to. 

t le so they prefer not to present Mr. Burke. Were the law plaine , or 
d,d U no say so d.stmctly, that (he officer mnst '^ convert ,o ^^.^"4 - 
o. use -bywayof invesiment.Ioan, cfcc/' nothing would stand between 
\Un^lu '"n '''' "^l'^^'"^"t' '"^J^e Grand Jury may preset him, but I 
th nk they will nol And there are minor reasons besides f.r not doino- so 
Ihe Execuliv^ and Congress can more fully invesiigat<. the ichote of the 
charges; the Grand Jury is of a dilTerent polirical rOmplexion from Mr 
Burke and fhe language of the law is too specific ior them to feel cerlain 
nat Mr. limke could not slip through its loop-h^-es, when it would be said 
(hey presented him because they disliked his politics. I fully ao-ree Avith 
llie Grand Jury m the impression I conclurfc they have taken. The House 
Committee on Patents meets to-day, for ^^e first time since the presentation 

Sir: Permit me to say, that all my "movements are the suo-ffestionsof self 
preservation, and not any distrust "' >'°"- 

I have the h-^^^ ^^ ^^ 7°"^ "'^"^T-hjiate, 



Washington, JuIt/ 11, 1848. 
Sir : By direction of the President, the undersigned have been appointed 
Commissioners to investigate and report upon (he charges preferred by you, 
under date of June 15th, 1848, against Edmund Burke, Commissioner of 
Patents. We have been furnished with your charge5, and his denial of 
them. It is due to you and Mr. Burke, that these charges be promptly and 
thoroughly investigated ; and, therefore, at the expense of considerable per- 
sonal inconvenience, we propose to hear these without delay. We there- 
fore appoint to-morrow at 4 o'clock, P. M., as the time, and the Solicitor's 
office as the place, of hearing. We propose to attend at that hour and 
place each day for that purpose, until the testimony is closed. A copy of 
this letter will be furnished to Mr. Burke, and he invited to attend and 
make defence. 

Respectfully, 

Your obedient servants, 

ALBION K. PARRIS, 
R. H. GILLET, 

Commissioners. 
Mr. Thomas G. Clinton, 

Assistant Examiner in the Patent Office^ 



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